Father's Day
by Sirensong24
Summary: Belle has something in mind to make sure that this Father's Day is the best one Rumple has ever had. 17/05/13 Expanded to a two-shot, in which Belle threatens Rumple's life.
1. Chapter 1

A/N-Thanks once again to my beta Woubazoid. And this is for her, a prompt that she sent me.

Belle paced.

The carpet under her feet would be threadbare before long. The apartment above the library had been there for 28 years, and while it was not in the best condition it had at least gotten her through. But at the rate she was going there would be a rut running along the bathroom before long.

These were the longest three minutes of her life.

To spare the carpet she stopped and sank to the floor beside the bathroom door.

Ever since Rumple had come back to town with Baelfire, six months prior, things had been different. They had been better. With his precious son returned to him, it made the former Dark One that much more eager to prove himself to her, to prove that he could be a changed man she thought he could be.

Since he had come back they had been, by the standards of this realm, 'dating'. That had included one enchanted evening at a ball held in City Hall, a fun day playing in the snow, and a beautiful picnic in the woods with her, Bae and Rum.

The alarm in the other room went off. Her breath caught in her throat, and she felt as though she was going to drown. "I can't do this," she said out loud. Picking up her cell phone, she called Ruby. Three minutes later the wolf walked through the door.

"Belle? What's wrong? You sounded so panicked on the phone." Ruby bent over to a distraught Belle.

Wordlessly, Belle gestured into the other room. Ruby stood up straight and walked into the other room. "Oh my..."

"I can't look. I really can't Rub, it's why I called you. I don't even know what it says."

Ruby walked out, with _it_ in her hand. "And you need me to tell you?"

Belle looked up, her eyes wide.

"Sweetie, it's positive. You're pregnant." Ruby held out the stick so she could see.

Trembling, Belle took the test from Ruby's outstretched hand. The digital read-out showed, very clearly, 'Pregnant, 3-4 weeks'.

"I'm carrying his child. I have his child," Belle whispered, pressing her hand against her flat stomach.

Ruby smiled, "I'm guessing this is a good thing? Then why were you so nervous?"

"The uncertainty I think. I couldn't deal with not knowing, and I wasn't brave enough to look myself."

"You moved into the Dark One's castle to save your land and you're scared of a pregnancy test?"

Belle huffed and looked at Ruby. "You wouldn't be?"

OoOoOo

Later the same day, Belle was out, walking down the street towards Rumple's store, but taking her time. It was a beautiful spring day in Storybrooke and she was in awe about how much the scenery around her seemed changed.

She noticed all the children running down the road. School had just let out, and they were on their way out to greet their parents. She watched, and for a split second, she saw a 5 year old girl with dark blue eyes and straight dark brown hair. She blinked and the vision vanished. A slow easy smile spread across her face and she sighed.

Or maybe it would be a boy. And Bae would have a brother. She could see them running through the woods, playing hide and seek. Bae would be a good brother to him.

She had already made an appointment with the OBGYN in Storybrooke, for the day after tomorrow. But she wanted to tell Rumple first.

What they had was true love. She knew it, knew it since her kiss had started to break his curse back in his castle. There was no chance that this was just a flight of fancy and they would break up a few months down the line. This child would have both a mother and a father in its life.

She had felt never felt such peace and joy.

Wondering how she would tell Rumplestiltskin the good news, she looked idly into the general store as she walked past, and her eyes lit up as she saw the perfect thing.

OoOoOo

Rumplestiltskin examined the antique Faberge that he had acquired at the estate sale from the town over. The enamel was flawless , a light blue with blush pink hearts all over it, trimmed with silver. It was a couple times larger than a chicken egg, and it opened up into a photo frame with a slot in front of it. It was perfect for his purpose.

The bell over his door rang, and the warm spring air wafted in, accompanied by the slight scent of jasmine. He looked up, and swiftly stuck the Faberge into its velvet lined case as Belle stepped into the back room.

"Hey Rum," she said with a smile. Every day the former Dark One marveled that, while she could have had her pick of men, she had chosen him. He stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around her, leaning in for a kiss.

"Hello dearie. How are you today?"

"Not bad. Had a bit of a stressful morning, but I'm feeling a lot better about it now. Where's Bae?"

"Oh, he's out at Gepetto's. He wants to learn more about the wood working."

"Hmm." Belle leaned onto the counter.

"So why was it so stressful?"

"Oh, I was just waiting on something. Waiting always makes me nervous," Belle smiled. "But I have something for you."

"Oh? And what is that?"

Belle brandished the card she had picked up at the store, with his name on it.

"It's a bit early, but I figured you wanted to spend most of the day with Bae."

Rumplestiltskin picked up the letter opener on his desk and slit the card open.

"Happy Father's Day," he read on the outside. He smiled wryly. "Dearie you didn't have to."

"But I wanted to." Belle smiled as he opened the card and began to read to himself.

_Dear daddy. We haven't met yet, but I know that I'm going to love you sooo much. And I know you'll feel the same way about me. And be just as good of a father to me as you are to my big brother. Love, your little one._

Rumple was, in a rare showing, speechless. When he finally found his tongue, his voice was very faint and weak. "Belle," he emphasized the first part of her name like he did when he was being very deliberate in talking to her. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

From her pocket, she pulled the test. "I'm about 4 weeks along. I have a doctor's appointment the day after tomorrow. You can come...if you want..." she was cut off abruptly as he swept her into his arms and twirled her around. She laughed, delighted by his reaction.

"_If_ I want to come? Oh dearie, I'm not going to leave your side!" He pressed a hand to her stomach, and his eyes welled up with tears. "A child..." His voice was filled with wonder.

"Our child," she added happily. She buried her face in his neck. "I can't wait to tell Bae," she whispered.

Rumplestiltskin smiled. "Me either."

A/N-R&R


	2. Mother's Day

A/N-This is a sequal to Father's Day, written on the recommendation of a reviewer TheScaryLittleGhostGirl who suggested I continue it to show the child.

Rumplestiltskin paced.

If it were possible for vinyl to wear out, the cafeteria floor in the Storybrooke Hospital would have a long track winding down along the windows and back up towards the coffee bar. Gold walked down to gaze out the window, a hot coffee clutched in his hand, and meandered back with a stone cold coffee to get a refill.

Rumplestiltskin was a coward.

He had walked away, rather than try to take back Milah. He had let his son go; had chosen his powers of the Dark One over his child. He had chosen his powers over finding true love with Belle.

Despite it all, fate had been kind to him. It had given him back both Bae as well as Belle. In fact, it had given him back Belle twice. It was far more than he had deserved for all his sins. He had sworn, after all this, not to play the part of the coward again.

And yet he was. This was not where he should have been.

It could be that he just didn't like hospitals.

The last time he was here had been when Belle had been injured, with no memory of what had happened. Before that, because of the curse, the stasis had left everyone with fair health. Except for falls and broken bones, the hospital had been very underutilized.

His skin felt electric, as though sparks would fly from him. A very likely thing to happen when he wasn't paying attention to controlling his magic. He noticed that the cup in his hand was trending more towards the cold side of the spectrum, and so he turned and walked back up to the concession stand to get a refill.

Neal was waiting for him at the coffee machine. "You do realize you're wasting perfectly good coffee there, Papa?" He arched an eyebrow. The endearment sounded strange coming from the mouth of a 30something year old man, but to Rumple, it was a beautiful sound.

"You make it sound like a crime," he said, amused.

"Well, if you're wasting coffee for the sake of avoiding upstairs, then it almost is." Rumple sighed at his son's words.

"I know Bae. I know where I should be, and it isn't here. I just…I can't watch it. She's in so much pain and its…."

"It's not entirely your fault. I'm fairly sure she wasn't saying no at the time," said Neal in dry voice. Gold looked at him out of the corner of his eye. It was remarks like that which reminded him that Bae was no longer a child.

"But I know," Neal continued. "I would give anything to reverse time and be there for when Henry was born."

The words of the son caused the father to recall how he had been absent for the birth of his first child. '_What the Hell am I doing?' _ He wondered to himself. Dumping the lukewarm coffee into the sink beside the coffee maker, he turned and, leaning on his cane, left the cafeteria.

"You're welcome," Neal called out, before helping himself to a coffee and a chocolate milk for Henry, who was in the waiting room.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

After stopping at the gift shop for something, he made his way to the elevator up to labour and delivery. When he stepped off the elevator, onto the third floor, his stomach immediately clenched. He could hear her.

"_WHERE IS HE!?" _ For such a petite woman, Belle had certainly been blessed with a set of lungs. Rumple winced as he heard her continue. "_TELL HIM IF HE DOESN'T GET HIS ASS UP HERE I WILL KILL HIM."_ This was punctuated by a wail, and a flurry of activity in her room.

Rumplestiltskin hurried forward, as fast as he could. "I'm here now my sweet. I'm sorry; I went to get you this." He set the vase on the table next to her head. In it, a beautiful fire and ice rose, frozen in the moment of its most perfect beauty, with the deep red fading to a pale pink, with white at the center of the flower.

"I don't want a rose," growled Belle. Her beautiful brown hair was plastered to her bright red face, and her baby blues were glazed with pain, and narrowed in anger. "I want you to BE here while I _GIVE BIRTH TO YOUR CHILD!"_

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry Belle, I shouldn't have left." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, allowing some magic to spread from his kiss, over her body. The numbing magic was meant to soothe her jangled nerves, and remove some of her pain.

"I feel what you're doing," she growled. "But I won't argue with you this time. It feels nice."

One of the Sisters from the convent waited at the end of the bed. She spoke up now. "Ok Belle. You need to push. I can see the head."

"You're lucky you made it back in time," she growled, before taking a breath and pushing. He noticed that her hands were balled into fists. Instantly he reached to take one of her hands. As soon as she felt his skin, she reflexively grasped his hand and squeezed. She continued to push as the nurse, Emma and Ruby all shouted encouragement. Rumple remained silent, leaned down and whispered into her ear. "You can do this Belle. You're bringing our child into our lives, and she is going to be just as beautiful as her mother." Belle's groan turned into a scream.

The scream blended with a tiny, but powerful cry.

As soon as he heard that sound, Gold whipped his head around and looked towards the base of the bed. Belle stopped screaming and looked up as well, tears running down her face from her exertions. He could feel his own tears welling up. The infant was tiny, and bright red from being exposed to air for the first time. A tear slipped down his face. He could feel his love shaking with sobs as she saw their child for the first time.

He leaned down and wrapped her in a fierce hug. "You did it, my dear." He pressed a kiss to her temple, to her cheek and to her mouth. "I don't think I've ever loved you quite as much as I do in this moment."

"I love you too, Rumple. I'm sorry for what I said."

"I don't blame you. If I were in that much pain, I would probably be yelling my head off too."

While the mother and father had been sharing this moment, baby had been cleaned and now the nurse brought the swaddled babe to lie in Belle's arms for the first time.

Belle held her as though she was going to break. Rumple rested one hand on his love, and one hand on his little daughter. At that moment she opened her eyes, and his breath caught in his chest. Belle's beautiful blue eyes, copied perfectly into his daughter's face.

"She needs a name," Belle said.

Gold just looked at his daughter. When the name came to him, he knew in an instant it was perfect. "Amira. It's from a middle Eastern language for precious."

She giggled quietly. "Precious. It's perfect. Hello my precious Amira," she cooed. Rumple kissed his tiny daughter gently on the forehead, before kissing his Belle.

"I'll be right back. I want to go tell Bae."

She nodded, enraptured with her daughter.

Before he left, he looked back. It was as she had said. He had never loved Belle as much as he had seeing them together.

Fate was being kind to the coward Rumplestiltskin. He was getting a second chance at a family.

He was still a coward. The thought of having a newborn terrified him. He was afraid he would make the same mistakes he'd made before. But he wouldn't run this time. This time he would do things right.

A/N-Thanks to Woubazoid for betaing this piece.


End file.
